Last night I made corn bread to go with dinner. Just simple corn bread baked in a muffin pan. As I took them out of the pan to put on a plate, a few of them broke leaving the bottom half in the pan.

For a quick second I was sad I messed them up. But then Spencer came over and said, "They aren't messed up. They're perfect for buttering now!"

Man. Such a little thing, but the Lord uses even little things, like broken corn muffins, to speak His grace in the mundane.

I loved this little lesson from the broken cornbread. I know it will seem so silly to some, but to me it was just the little encouragement my heart needed.

And I loved that Spencer pointed out that little grace to me. What I saw as broken, he saw as meant to be. What I got discouraged from, he saw potential in. I love marriage. Marriage is a beautiful and sanctifying gift. I'm so thankful to be on a team with Spencer. There are times he helps me see the good when I can't see it; there are times I do the same for him. We all need community, a teammate. Someone to point out little graces to us.

And that little grace of a broken little corn muffin reminded me there is purpose behind our pain.When I'm broken, the Lord has good use for it. When I feel torn in two, He can sweetly redeem it. I just need to stop and remind myself the good that comes from trials. Trials prepare us, sanctify us, perfect us. The brokenness is means for purposed beauty.

Sarah Connatser

Sarah loves Jesus and her family and is passionate about addressing the urgent spiritual and physical needs around the world. She is the wife of Spencer and mama of Katherine and Claire, and they live in Nashville, TN. She runs a photography business with her husband and writes in order to offer encouragement and invite others to choose grace, joy, and gratitude in the adventure and the mundane. She loves traveling and reading; she will choose unsweet tea over sweet and bootcut jeans over skinny; and she is all sorts of awkward with small talk but thrives with deep conversations.